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What Happened to The Prime Time Game Shows?

G

Gregg

Yes, we still see "Deal or No Deal" and now that the baseball playoffs and World Series are over, Fox is returning "Fifth Grader" to two runs a week and "Don't Forget The Lyrics" to once a week.

But where are "Power of Ten" and "One Vs. 100"? When the Drew Carey version of Price Is Right was about to debut, one reporter caught up with Carey in NYC while he was between tapings of "Power of Ten." Yet the show has not aired since CBS started its new season. And "One Vs. 100" must have been a ratings success since NBC ran all the original shows as repeats all summer. But it's been absent this fall.

I remember when an NBC rep was saying it was the network's plan to start every evening (except Thurs.) with an hour of reality or game shows, limiting the scripted dramas and comedies to 9-11pm, as a cost saving move.

I think that's a cheap way to produce programming. Each show should stand on its own. But I am surprised so many other prime time game shows were launched over the last year (William Shatner, Jimmy Kimmel, and Fox's "The Rich List"), yet all seem to have come and gone with no word on why they were cancelled.

And if you're a contestant on a game show that never airs, you might think you've won many thousands of dollars... but the producers have no obligation to pay you. I wonder how many people won money on un-aired episodes of Shatner and Kimmel's game shows and Rich List... never to be paid?





Gregg
[email protected]
 
Gregg said:
Yes, we still see "Deal or No Deal" and now that the baseball playoffs and World Series are over, Fox is returning "Fifth Grader" to two runs a week and "Don't Forget The Lyrics" to once a week.

But where are "Power of Ten" and "One Vs. 100"? When the Drew Carey version of Price Is Right was about to debut, one reporter caught up with Carey in NYC while he was between tapings of "Power of Ten." Yet the show has not aired since CBS started its new season. And "One Vs. 100" must have been a ratings success since NBC ran all the original shows as repeats all summer. But it's been absent this fall.

I remember when an NBC rep was saying it was the network's plan to start every evening (except Thurs.) with an hour of reality or game shows, limiting the scripted dramas and comedies to 9-11pm, as a cost saving move.

I think that's a cheap way to produce programming. Each show should stand on its own. But I am surprised so many other prime time game shows were launched over the last year (William Shatner, Jimmy Kimmel, and Fox's "The Rich List"), yet all seem to have come and gone with no word on why they were cancelled.

And if you're a contestant on a game show that never airs, you might think you've won many thousands of dollars... but the producers have no obligation to pay you. I wonder how many people won money on un-aired episodes of Shatner and Kimmel's game shows and Rich List... never to be paid?
1




Gregg
[email protected]
Click to expand...

I read somewhere the CBS ordered more episodes of "The Power of 10" to air early next year. I had thought I had seen that 1 VS 100 had been renewed by NBC but I have not seen or heard of a season premiere for it. I also saw on Zap2it.com that Regis Philbin will be brining Password back to CBS in prime time sometime in mid-season.

Show Me the Money had awful ratings which gave it an early heave-ho. Not sure about Kimmel's. I think I watched about 5 minutes of it and had to change channels since it was so bad. Never saw the Fox show.

So if the show never airs the contestant never wins their prizes/winnings? I never knew that.
 
If the writers' strike happens, you'll see all these shows very shortly....again and again and again ;D
 
Hi everyone:
WMC2006 said:
If the writers' strike happens, you'll see all these shows very shortly....again and again and again ;D
Click to expand...
And ABC will be wanting to take MNF from ESPN and/or begin its NBA coverage MUCH earlier than it had hoped. And if it goes well into next year, we could also see MLS soccer and/or Arena Football on ABC while the real ESPN networks are taking care of their College Basketball coverage as well.

Cheers :D
 
Pat Cook said:
Hi everyone:
WMC2006 said:
If the writers' strike happens, you'll see all these shows very shortly....again and again and again ;D
Click to expand...
And ABC will be wanting to take MNF from ESPN and/or begin its NBA coverage MUCH earlier than it had hoped. And if it goes well into next year, we could also see MLS soccer and/or Arena Football on ABC while the real ESPN networks are taking care of their College Basketball coverage as well.

Cheers :D
Click to expand...


Maybe the XFL will make a comeback :D
 
Pat Cook said:
And ABC will be wanting to take MNF from ESPN and/or begin its NBA coverage MUCH earlier than it had hoped.
Click to expand...

well if you think about it, in primetime the NBA has a perfect window, pregame at 8, game at 8:30 and all wrapped up with a short postgame show until 11
 
If the writers want to strike, it might be a plus for Game Shows, which would be
better than some of the Prime Time Comedies and Dramas that air right now.
There is speculation that "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" may return to ABC if
this happens, even though Regis Philbin can't do it because of his commitment
to "Million Dollar Password" for CBS.
There is another game show that should return, "Twenty One" on NBC, i enjoyed
this when it aired in 2000 and i'm sure Maury Povich would do this again.
Along with "Deal Or No Deal", "1 vs. 100", and the upcoming "Amnesia" with
Dennis Miller, you can air a game show Monday thru Friday in early prime time.
That would make me happy!
 
To the original post, Power of 10 was never supposed to be on the fall schedule. After a decent, not spectacular but passable, summer run, new episodes were ordered for mid-season. Possibly sooner in the event of a writers' strike, but let's not get ahead of ourselves on just how soon that would be. First, there are numerous shows in the can, second, there's no way of knowing if it will be a prolonged strike or not.

Certainly I want to see more game shows on the air, but Twenty One isn't going to be one of them, nor is Weakest Link. 1 vs 100 is being held for mid-season. (Personally I think it's a much more interesting game than Deal, but that's just me.)

And let's not forget (though I try) that Bingo Night is coming back for a week-long run at some point. (I should clarify that I would like to see good game shows back on the air, not Bingo Night or worse, Set for Life.)
 
With Deal coming to syndication, and word of a Trivial Pursuit TV edition, Crosswords would seem to have its days numbered. Here in Philly, it's been flipped with Family Feud, which could be read as a sign that they think Feud is the stronger link. Zero chance any of the networks would be interested.

I watched it again on a day off a couple of weeks ago to see if maybe it got better. Unfortunately, while I like the idea and think it's a unique type of quiz, I can't see any way it can find a sustainable audience.
 
I liked Merv Griffin. I think Wheel and Jeopardy are winners! Obviously after more than 30 years on the air THEY ARE WINNERS! But unfortunately I think "Crosswords" is a load of crap. It doesn't even air in my market. I have to watch via a market 50 miles away. I watched it twice and then stopped. I'm not a fan of the host, the theme music or the game. I really tried to like it. But in my opinion it's just not very good. It's almost strange for me to have this opinion since my favorite game show growing up was The Cross-wits with Jack Clark! Everything about that show was great. It was a winning formula that worked. But Crosswords is just not anything like Cross-wits. The only similarity is that the game is based on a crossword puzzle. But Merv Griffin's Crosswords has proven that just incorparating a crossword puzzle into a show won't work unless you do it the right way. Cross-wits did it the right way. In my opinion Crosswords hasn't! I expect this show to be off the air shortly.

The website is down as I post this. But check http://www.ralphedwards.com for a clip of "The Cross-wits" and see how it was done the right way.
 
Skynet74 said:
I liked Merv Griffin. I think Wheel and Jeopardy are winners! Obviously after more than 30 years on the air THEY ARE WINNERS! But unfortunately I think "Crosswords" is a load of crap. It doesn't even air in my market.
Click to expand...

Crosswords isn't the only klunker (or bound to be a klunker) to come from Merv -- remember "Headline Chasers" from 1985, hosted by Wink Martindale? Or "Joe Garagiola's Memory Game"? Or even the TV version of "Monopoly"? While Merv is best known for two of game shows' greatest game shows, he also had many that practically failed and ended up forgotten.
 
I tried to forget Monopoly and Headline Chasers, and perhaps I'm blessed not to have been less than a year old when it aired.

To be fair to Merv, Goodson Toddman had their share of clunkers alongside the monster hits--the best of talent can and will strike out. It's unfortunate Merv's final show was a dud, but Wheel and Jeopardy look to carry on his legacy for quite some time.
 
azumanga said:
Crosswords isn't the only klunker (or bound to be a klunker) to come from Merv -- remember "Headline Chasers" from 1985, hosted by Wink Martindale? Or "Joe Garagiola's Memory Game"?
Click to expand...

...hell, Garagiola himself has been trying to forget "Memory Game" since week one! Tho I can't say Joe was the best game show emcee ever, either. He did a good job taking over from the great Garry Moore on "To Tell the Truth" but his work on both "Memory Game" and "He Said She Said" were way sub-par (the latter was much better when Bert Convy handled it as "TattleTales"). Joe may be a legitimately great guy on the street, was a helluva panelist and remains an absolute gem during a baseball game, but as game show emcee and talk show host (he subbed for Carson the night that Lennon & McCartney showed up on "The Tonight Show" to announce the opening of the Beatles' Apple Records label) he only occasionally hit the mark...
 
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